Monday, January 10, 2011

2010 Alphabet

Although I didn't updated much, 2010 was a year of up's and down's. I figured the best way to summarize the year was to do like Amanda and do a 2010 alphabet.

Chilling in Amsterdam

A. Amsterdam - I loved this city more and more everyday and at the times when I realized I actually lived in Amsterdam I felt so awesome. Although every so often I had itchy feet to move somewhere new and exciting, the thought of leaving Amsterdam always had me thinking twice about taking any action on that.

B. Beach sickness - More than anything else I missed warm, clean beaches to swim in. I had so many dreams of running and jumping into warm pacific waters, I even had lucid dreams where I controlled my setting and brought the pacific to me with just a simple snap of my fingers; sun - snap! Happy chilled out beach people - snap! Beautiful beach - snap! At least there I could swim as much as I liked and all while never leaving Amsterdam.

C. Cymbeline - My long, overly perfectionist, super love for detail search for a wedding dress ended with a dress from a Parisian designer named Cymbeline. Unfortunately the dress was 40% over my budget and I needed weeks of wedding budget shuffling and budget cutting to cover the cost. The search for a wedding dress was one of the best experiences I had last year, nothing felt as good as trying on fine gowns worth several thousands while chatting with the girls and sipping tea. I wish I could do it again and again and again.

D. Depression - Unfortunately this came and went a few too many times last year but never really lasted long because my life here was so friggen' awesome that at the end of the day I couldn't really get too deeply bogged down by anything.

E. Edwardian Pearls - While shopping for wedding earrings in Amsterdam's antique district I decided I would try on a pair of 100 year old, €2000 Edwardian Era pearl earrings that I absolutely could not afford only to have one break as I was putting it in my ear. Luckily for me the man behind the counter said it happens all the time with antique jewelry and let it go (how lucky was that!?).

F. Friends - Not only had I met an amazing bunch of people in 2010 but I also bonded more with amazing ones that I met in 2009. I was surrounded by such a great group of people last year that sometimes I wondered how this little introvert was capable of juggling so many social events like an extrovert.

Discovering new restaurants

G. Gourmet - I tried some amazing restaurants/cafe's last year. My top 3 included Ron Blauw which totally blew me away, the restaurant has 2 Michelin stars and dining there was an experience that I felt I should applaud. Gartine had possibly the best high tea I have ever had anywhere with delicious home grown ingredients, an excellent atmosphere and super friendly staff. And Brasserie Flo Amsterdam (& Lisbon!) which had excellent seafood and classic French dishes in a gorgeous art nouveau setting.

H. Holland Hup! - Such a great vibe in the city, it was lots of fun being in Europe for a world-cup and even more so in a country where the team made the final.

I. Insomnia - When I wasn't lucid dreaming of warm pacific beaches I spent a lot of my time tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep.

J. Jerks - I ran into a lot of them this year, especially a lot when it came to organising my wedding. Nuno Flores - who provided our live music sent us 2 violinist instead of a cellist and violinist which is what we asked for from the very beginning. Marina Cruz - who after paying them €300 for wedding hairstyling slyly added additional costs to the total value of €500 and then charged us for the coffee we drank on the morning of my wedding at the salon. I do I do - who's service was too shockingly rude to be in the wedding service industry. The cynical ladies running Quinta dos Alfinetes in Sintra who rudely tried to force us to have our wedding on a weekday or a weekend in November because they didn't want to give us a weekend spot in September/October. The list is pretty long so i'll just stop here.

K. Kilos - The gym became an important part of my life and I lost about 10kilos leading up to my wedding, my gown was taken in 3 sizes and body pump and core and stability classes almost turned into my religion.

L. Love Parade - We spontaneously joined some friends heading to Duisberg for the Love Parade, this was probably one of the worst experiences i've had not only in 2010 but in my entire life. When we returned to Amsterdam I had to wash my hair 4 times before the water ran clear from the all the dust off the coals of the shitty industrial area the organisers thought they could squeeze so many people into.

M. Mor - Sadly Mats' grandmother passed away early in the year and I couldn't attend the funeral because of some minor surgery I had the week before. Mor was a wonderful host who welcomed people from everywhere into her home and I will remember the few christmas' I shared with her forever.

N. Norway - In summer we headed over to Norway for Mats' mum's 60th Birthday. And again back for Christmas at the family farm.

P. Portugal - Probably the word we used more than any other the entire year, Portugal was the main focus of everything for us, our families and closest friends. After flying there to settle on a wedding venue we had 8 months of looking forward to Portugal. We honeymooned pre wedding in Ericeira and post wedding in Sesimbra, they were beautiful sunny days filled with delicious seafood and salt water that was too cold for swimming but perfect to smell in the air.

Q. Quit my job - Not so wise finically, but oh so liberating. After seeing my yearly contract out I decided not to renew and am again a lady of leisure looking for something new and exciting.

Roadtrippin' the French Riviera

R. Roadtrip! - Our annual roadtrip with Mats' brother Jonas took us down to Dijon, further down to sunny Marseille and across the Riviera, to Nice and Monaco, up through Italy to Lake Como and back through France to Strasbourg and all the way back to Amsterdam.

S. Sintra - The little town where we got married, we were so thrilled to share this magical place with the people closest to us!

T. Tonsils - I had them snipped out, and it was 2 and a half weeks of complete hell because of the doctors refusal to prescribe me any pain killers stronger than paracetamol. Crossing my fingers I never break any bones in this country...

U. UK - We spent a weekend in London with family and I got to do plenty of shopping. Although I could never live there, visiting London is always a highlight.

My brother and his gf visit Amsterdam

V. Visitors - We were lucky enough to be visited by more friends and family from Norway and from Australia last year among them was my brother and his girlfriend, a very good friend and her son, and my cousin and his wife.

W. Wedding! - I got married, twice! On September the 23rd Mats and I caught a bus from Ericeira to Lisbon and were officially married by the Norwegian Ambassador to Portugal in the Norwegian Embassy. The whole experience took about 10-15 minutes and before we knew it we were married and catching a taxi to Brasserie Flo where we celebrated with champagne, oysters and delicious deserts. A little over a week later we headed to Sintra with our closest friends and family for a beautiful wedding weekend where we were married once again in a symbolic ceremony on the terrace the hotel that we hired out for the weekend. It was an amazing day that flew by far too quickly.

Waiting for the bus to Lisbon

X. Y. & Z - Impossible to think of any x y & z's!

So there, I've updated on my 2010, hopefully this year I will update more than a total of 3 times.

2 comments:

1.I got married twice this year too! First a city hall elopement and then a big party with the big white dress! I'm so glad that we did both of them - It was nice to get married just for ourselves before sharing it with all our friends and family.

2. I got my tonsils out in 2009, and it was hands down the most painful experience of my life - and I had REAL painkillers! I can't even imagine what you went through.. that's just cruel!

About

Expat, originally from Sydney, Australia and currently based in Amsterdam, I have also lived in Canada, Norway and Portugal. Traveller, I live to travel and together with my husband we aim on visiting every country in the world, with at least 100 by the time we're both 40. Writer, on this blog and occasionally elsewhere, I also researched and contributed to the first edition of the Michelin Must Sees Amsterdam (2012)